Leonardo DiCaprio is Actually Backing Spencer Pratt

I want to start with Spencer Pratt because I think, Maureen, you're such a good media critic and Pratt's campaign for Los Angeles mayor is such an interesting media story. It's also turning into, because it's Los Angeles, of course, an interesting story about Hollywood. This comment he made caught my attention. This was actually on Billy Bush's podcast recently. He kind of casually dropped that he has support from some A-list A-listers and I wanted to get your take on this. You must be surprised by a couple of names. The most excited I've been, where I was like, oh wow, was Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx. With witnesses, their teams can say it didn't happen, but there are a lot of witnesses and that felt great. Their whole thing to me is, we need you to make the streets safer again. That was it. That's why I keep telling people, this is not political. But Chelsea Handler, she's not a fan, said we should have learned by now that putting a straight white male in office is a problem. How dumb is that? If someone said the same thing about a woman or a gay person or a person of color, it would be widely condemned. Who are you connecting with on that? This unbelievable- Also, I am married to one of the global pop gay icons, so the gays are with me. I have the entire gay vote, period. Any normal functioning brain that doesn't want to step in human poop when they get their matcha is voting for me, which is a lot of people. First fact check, Maureen, Heidi Montag, gay icon. Is this true? I don't know. I'm not that dialed into Heidi's pop career, but she does have some of the hallmarks, that uber-exaggerated femininity that tends to ... I haven't really ever seen drag performers as Heidi. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've been watching the Kylie Minogue documentary on Netflix. Sorry to take you on an aside. Ooh, no, this is good. And she said, she realized, she felt like her career was in trouble because she was just this sort of bubblegummy pop princess with nowhere to really go. And then her manager said, hey, do you know there's a Kylie night at the local drag club? The drag community is into you. And she was like, I want to go. And she went and she realized like, oh no, I'm doing great. I've got the drag community. That's exactly who you want. So anyway. Because it turns it into art. It turns it into camp. But you're also hitting ... It means that your art is hitting with the outsiders and the misfits. What she once thought of herself as sort of this one dimensional pop icon. She sort of realized, no, no, no, there's something deeper that maybe I'm not even dialed into about what I'm doing. You know what I mean? But anyway, the Spencer Pratt, I find the campaign fascinating. And I think the ads that he's been putting out, these AI generated ads that look like little films, which it's very Hollywood. It's very circular, but they're incredibly effective. I think it was ... I think, was it George Bush or Jeb Bush who said, these ads that Spencer Pratt's camp is putting out are the most effective I've ever seen? Have you seen them? Yeah. They are like just the ... There's a simplicity to them because they're AI, as you mentioned. But they're hitting the zeitgeist in a way that ... This is partially what I'm curious about from your end. It feels like only a reality star could be that in the zeitgeist, or a reality star-cooned politician could be that in the zeitgeist, because it's so in touch with the Normie Angelino. It's interesting. He hasn't been a reality star really for quite some time, per se. You would think even, well, an actor would be able to do that, or anyone in the industry would be able to come up with ads that are that succinct, clever, that grab you, but that get their point across. I mean, even though these ads are AI generated, they look very sophisticated. They play on tropes that are very easily recognizable. They're very digestible. He's always the superhero, Karen Bass and the like, Gavin Newsom, they're the villains. He's running on a very, very simple platform. Anyone can understand it. He wants to clean up LA, and the mismanagement that led to the Palisades fires, and the destruction they're all still living in. It shocked me, that Billy Bush clip, when he named the names, I didn't think he was going to. What do you think about this? Because most people hear those names. These are two pretty notoriously left-leaning celebrities. Left-leaning doesn't do justice. They're outwardly very progressive celebrities, and they're both A-listers, DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx. Maybe Jamie Foxx less so than DiCaprio, but still huge, huge celebrities. Do you think that, I mean, it sounds like, he said their publicist can say this didn't happen. Are there plausibly real A-lister heavyweights? Oh, I believe that. Tell me. Yeah, I 100% believe that. I actually, I don't know much about Jamie Foxx's politics, and I don't know that we do. Leo, what I know about his politics, it goes only really to the environment. I otherwise have no idea what he thinks politically, and I think he's smart. I think he wants it that way. Was he at the Bezos wedding? He was. Oh, that's a great question. I think you're right. I think he was. We might get a fact check on that, but that does- So you never know, you never know, but yeah, so, but the idea, so A, he dropped the names, which is huge because normally you protect celebrities who maybe- He was, by the way. He was at the Bezos wedding. Okay, so there we go. So we don't really know what Leo thinks politically, and I think, but I think it's incredible for him to say, listen, their camps can deny it, but Leonardo DiCaprio wants me to win. Jamie Foxx wants me to win. Anyone who's sane and doesn't want to step in human excrement as they make their way around Los Angeles wants me to win. It's extremely effective. I like this campaign a lot. Well, and so he says, I guess the AI videos aren't directly from the campaign. He's definitely kind of leaned into all of this, but this point that you're touching on reminds me of Trump in a certain way, where celebrity endorsements, if it's to the sort of usual Democratic politician, Taylor Swift, did she get some people to register to vote against Marsha Blackburn or against Trump? Probably she got some people to register to vote. Did she move the needle? I don't know how much she moved the needle. A lot of this is just kind of routine. But when you see, and in 2024 especially, when you saw Trump have this cultural momentum that was surprising, it's with Pratt almost also arresting to see him be so, he's a Republican. He's not running in this race as a Republican. He's a registered Republican. But he says, I'm just somebody who wants to clear up the city. That's how he responds to questions. And his opponents are trying to peg him as a MAGA guy. But honestly, he seems to have the pop cultural momentum, not just the pop culture cred. But now it seems like he's building into something else, Maureen. And that's very, very interesting to watch. Well, he's been very smart and very, whoever is advising him is very, very shrewd. There is one ad, I believe, in which he stars as like Batman. Yes. Right? And then another where he did a spin on the Fresh Prince, excuse me, of Bel Air, because the opposition was saying, you don't really live in a trailer. You live like in a Gulf Stream. You had a multimillion dollar house. He took that and he did a spin on the opening theme to the Fresh Prince. So he's speaking a lingua franca that we all acknowledge. He's also leaning into the Trump playbook of like, you want to elect me because I'm the outsider, because I'm not part of this system that brought you the Palisades fire, that's bringing you rampant homelessness and crime and drug abuse. And A-list celebrities are feeling this crime too. Their houses are being broken into whenever they're stupid enough to post online or they're like actually doing their jobs on like a junket overseas. And criminal enterprises see, oh, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt's house was broken into. Brad Pitt, while he was doing, I think, F1 press overseas. So you know, it's trickling up, not down. Did you see this? Go on. Sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no. Did you see this Us Weekly cover? This is F1. Let's put it up on the screen. This is Spencer Pratt on the cover of Us Weekly. A very positive, I mean, the quote on the cover is, this is my destiny. You never see right-leaning candidates get treatment like this from tabloid media, Maureen. Am I right? That seems, other than, of course, like there's some New York Post Daily Mail, but the like People Magazine, Us Weekly, that kind of bucket of entertainment coverage is not typically this willing to be favorable or to frame neutrally, favorably the campaign of somebody like Spencer Pratt. Well, it's so funny you bring this up because I just bought that in my weekly tabloid haul. I was surprised to see that cover. I want to talk about that cover, but I just want to preface this by saying I heard a sound bite of him the other day. Again, he's straddling this line very cleverly. He said, well, I was a Democrat and I'm very much still in a lot of the social things that the Democratic Party represents, but I had no choice but to register as a Republican either after the Palisades fires or in order to get on, something like that. Like he's threading that needle. Right. So he's giving permission for anyone, no matter how, how, how much they align themselves with any given set of policies to vote for him. If it's possible to look at that Us Weekly cover once more, let's throw it back up. So look at the color palette of this blue sky, right? Blue sky. It gets, it gets almost whiter in the middle. He's in a light blue shirt, blue. They often tell presidential candidates when you want to project trustworthiness, wear blue. When you want to project power and confidence, you wear like red, you wear a red tie. You often see Trump in red. I mean, obviously red Republicans, et cetera. He's standing in front of lush vegetation, not a hollowed out. Like this is basically this cover is an ad for him, whether the editors realize it or not. It projects optimism, hope, life, growth, and futurism. Are you surprised to see it from Us Weekly? No, I'm actually not because I think, I don't, I don't think, I think these, these publications, I'm like one of the only people left who buys them, but I'm, I'm, I'm very interested in the way those, those covers are art directed and put together and the messages that they're conveying. Is Us Weekly owned by Penske Media? That's a good question. I'm going to look it up right now. But I think that they're just in the, in the business of trying to, to, to sell copies and to be relevant. And I knew that Spencer Pratt was going to be a major player when, I want to say it was sometime over the winter, the New York Times Sunday paper ran a cover story. It was like, it wasn't business. It wasn't opinion and it wasn't styles, I don't think, but it was the front page. And then it was a huge spread inside. It was like a 5,000, 8,000 word piece and I'm talking about his improbable nascent run for mayor. And I thought this is, this is really something that's going to, going to go somewhere. Yeah. And not again, I'm not trying to get too political, but I just think it reminds me of after Donald Trump was shot in Butler in 2024, you just started to see some pop cultural momentum shift his way. And that it's just like it shifted right in some interesting ways. And that, I mean, it appears to be catchy number and I'm curious to get your take on this. Harry Enten on CNN just Tuesday was looking at some of these numbers for Spencer Pratt. Let's roll this S2. I have to admit that in my mind, you know, a friend of mine who is a fan of Pratt, you know, he seems to rise. I was, I was really putting it down. But if you look at the prediction market, you look at the cash and prediction markets, his chances are up significantly, up significantly over the last few months. You know, you go back a few months ago, February 26th, he had just a 7% chance. What is that? That's five plus two. Now it's up like a rocket. Look, chances are he still won't be the next mayor of Los Angeles, but there's a pretty decent chance of it's now up over a quarter, 27% chance. So those who dismiss Pratt's chances, well, you got another thing coming because he's got a realistic shot of winning this thing. I hate using the calci numbers for these types of things, Maureen. But I guess what that does speak to is the cultural momentum, this belief that there's something about the Pratt campaign that's possible. And that's pretty impressive. You know, I stopped trusting poll numbers when Trump beat Hillary. Smart. And, you know, even with the with the last presidential election, it was the polls, the numbers weren't reflective of of the outcome. And I wonder with someone like a Spencer Pratt, if there might be a similar phenomenon at work that there might be a silent Spencer Pratt voter that's just not going to tell a pollster what they're going to do. That seems plausible, although to your point about him also giving people permission. I mean, that's the that I think is what I was trying to say earlier about why it's different when you have somebody who's seen as maybe an underdog, an insurgent like Spencer Pratt getting or saying at least he has the support of a Jamie Foxx or a Leo DiCaprio. It kind of does create permission for other people to say, all right, the taboo has been shattered. Apparently, Jamie Foxx and Leo DiCaprio are in on this. It doesn't make me so crazy to say I might be, you know, I'm like hypothetical Angelino. I'm a Democrat, a liberal. I support gay rights, but I'm so sick of the way the city is being run. It's just one of those things that adds up to the climate, making people more comfortable stepping in and being like enough with Karen Bass, enough with Karen Bass. It's OK to say I'm going with this other option. It's wild and wacky, but I'm going to give it a try because anything's better than the status quo. And when you start building that type of momentum, it can be hard to stop in pop culture world. It's also interesting that he's gotten the discussion off of the talking point. You're a reality star. It's a Republican, which, you know, he's he's kind of made that the more radioactive aspect of his run than his lack of civic experience or municipal experience, you know, his experiences in being on the hills on MTV, you know. But again, I think, you know, I watched I saw parts of that debate in which he demolished he demolished his opponents. And it goes to really, you know, it's it's the most important part of campaigning. It's like it's your it factor. It's your star power. It's your stage presence. It's your swagger, your swag. It's your your your argument. How succinct is it? How powerful is it? How much does it hit people truly where they live? I don't know the last time you were in L.A., but the last time I was in L.A., I was shocked by the conditions I was seeing shocked. You go near the Staples Center, you know, you have to go through to get to the Staples Center. I stayed by the Staples Center last time I was in L.A. Really? Yeah. Big mistake. What I mean, what did you see? I mean, exactly what you're describing. It's and it's sad. There are a lot of cities like this. After covid, parts of the city is just they slowed down so much, hollowed out so much. And some of it just hasn't come back. But yeah, that's it's but there's segments of L.A. that have just been ceded to the homeless. Just it's it's like we give up on you. We give up on this. We give up. You know, it's shantytowns. It's it's like roll up your window, hold your breath, run the red light, get out of there. You know, it's bad. It's bad. That plus, you know, I find it personally just as I find it, Americans have lost a certain segment of Americans, I should say. Not all Americans. Shame is dead in our culture. If a Karen Bass had been an elected official in Japan, she would have wandered off into the forest to commit suicide. And that would have been that would have been the honorable thing to do. What do we do in America? We run again. You know, break a few eggs proudly. We run again proudly. Yeah. No, don't worry about it. What does it feel like when your clothes actually feel good? Cozy Earth proves what you wear at home matters as much as what you wear out. The outfit that I have been living in lately is the brushed bamboo jogger set. And that's not an understatement. I actually really have been living in the brushed bamboo jogger set lately. It's incredible. Crafted from bamboo viscose, it's breathable and unbelievably soft. The fit is also the perfect balance. It's tapered to look put together, but also relaxed for total comfort. You can complete the vibe with the lake house clogs. I also love these and I'm also living in these. They have a very cushioned footbed and soft interior. So they're supportive for all day wear, but also so cozy that you can kind of forget that you're there even on cozy earth offers a 30 day return policy and a lifetime warranty on clothing. It is completely hassle free. This Memorial Day week, give yourself the kind of comfort that lives with you all day. Not just the moment you get home. Cozy Earth's brushed bamboo jogger set and lake house clogs are designed to keep you cozy, comfortable, and actually relaxed all season long. Comfort lives here. Head to CozyEarth.com and use my code EMILY for up to 30% off, but only for a limited time. This exclusive offer runs through June 1st only. So don't wait. That's code EMILY at CozyEarth.com for up to 30% off. And if you see a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here.